Betty LeBlanc holds a sign advertising free flu shots at Solomon House Thursday morning.

Free flu shots were distributed at Solomon House Thursday morning as part of a Walgreens Pharmacy effort to get the last few needed shots in for local residents before the flu season comes to a close.

Ellen Nora, the director of Solomon House, was on-hand for the event, as well as several volunteers and representatives from Walgreens, who were distributing the shots.

Volunteers and Solomon House put in an extra effort to attract local residents needing a flu shot, holding out signs in front of the building on Center Street during the event and notifying businesses across New Iberia this week to make sure everyone knew it would be taking place.

“Walgreens called to partner with us and the community,” Nora said during the event. “We began at 9 a.m. and definitely want to give them the credit. They called and said they want to do a free flu shot clinic and they partnered with us to do it.”

However, the amount of people receiving the shot was a bit low, which Nora guessed had to do with the chilly weather.

“It wasn’t as busy, they’ve been coming in slow,” she said.

During this year’s flu season, the Center of Disease Control has estimated anywhere between 9.8 million to 11.4 million cases of flu illness in America. Although those numbers aren’t final, the CDC is predicting the amount will be less than the 2017-2018 season, which was one of the deadliest in years.

The Louisiana Department of Health estimates between 450,000 to 900,000 of influenza outbreaks in the state per year. However, monitoring the virus is difficult because many who get the flu do not seek medical care.

The CDC says that a flu shot is the single best way to protect against the disease. Vaccination has been shown to have many benefits including reducing the risk of flu illnesses, hospitalizations and even the risk of flu-related death in children.

Volunteer Betty LeBlanc was hopeful that those who needed the shot received it and was also thankful that the free service provided by the company was available at all.

“It’s an amazing service and we notified all the agencies. We were hoping people would come and take advantage of it. But it’s cold and not their food day. If we did it on food day it might have been busier,” LeBlanc said.

However, Nora added that it might have become congested if they had tired that method.. Hopefully however, those who needed the shot were able to receive it free of charge.